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The Utah football fans who stopped tailgating long enough to fill about one-fourth of Rice-Eccles Stadium's seats for a couple of hours finally were rewarded with a touchdown on the Red-White game's last play Saturday afternoon.

Not from the offense, though.

Marcus Williams' 99-yard interception return clinched the White's 12-0 victory, ending an event that featured an entirely different look and feel from recent spring finales. The Utes just wanted to give fans "a taste of what our team's all about," coach Kyle Whittingham said.

Yet considerable faith is required regarding their offense between now and the season opener vs. Michigan, in the absence of much production Saturday. That's probably just as well. Nobody can accuse the Utes of creating any false hope this time, after dazzling audiences in previous Aprils and then ranking among the Pac-12's worst offenses when it mattered.

Once star running back Devontae Booker and full staffs of offensive linemen and receivers join senior quarterback Travis Wilson, the Ute offense appears capable of performing adequately in this conference. That would represent significant improvement.

Aaron Roderick, promoted in February as Utah's co-offensive coordinator, described his group as "right on schedule to have a good year."

The offense has "made progress," Whittingham said, summarizing the spring. "The players are excited about what we're doing. They believe in what we're doing."

They just didn't do much Saturday, which is not to say there was no redeeming value in the Red-White game. Fans got to practice tailgating, watch punter Tom Hackett and kicker Andy Phillips perform and witness some nice defensive efforts, including aggressive tackling in the secondary and four interceptions — highlighted by Williams' closing act.

Quarterbacked by Donovan Isom and Conner Manning, the two offenses produced six points and 312 total yards. Those numbers are in contrast to 63 points and 797 yards in 2013 and 55 points and 734 yards last April.

The coaches obviously did not feel compelled to impress anyone. Quite the opposite, actually.

"Don't worry," Roderick said. "We showed maybe one-third of what we've been practicing. This stuff's on TV. Michigan's watching it."

The Pac-12 Networks also televised Utah's last couple of spring games, though. The best explanation for lack of points and yards was that just as many offensive starters as defensive players were held out this year, for precautionary reasons. The defense played with the usual restrictions of schemes and alignments, with each team even drawing a 15-yard penalty for "illegal defense."

Wilson usually played about a half in these exercises in the past, but he remained on the sideline Saturday. So did Chase Hansen, who injured a finger in Thursday's practice, and Kendal Thompson, who will be fully available in August after rehabilitating his knee. Another QB, Brandon Cox, missed most of the spring with a foot injury.

That brought us to Isom and Manning. So between them, who will rank Nos. 5 and No. 6 on the depth chart in August? Trick question. There won't be a No. 6, considering Whittingham's forecast of "natural attrition."

As for the top of the chart, Roderick believes Wilson and other offensive starters will thrive in the second year of the scheme that former coordinator Dave Christensen installed. "We're able to get a little more in depth into the details of what we're trying to do," Roderick said. The quarterbacks are "able to anticipate what's going to happen, before it happens."

The average fan, meanwhile, hardly knows what to expect from the 2015 Ute offense, prior to Sept. 3. The consolation as of Saturday is that Jim Harbaugh and the other Michigan coaches are just as uncertain.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com Twitter: @tribkurt